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Original poster

Did you immediately love your house when you viewed it and knew it was 'the one'?

56 replies

CrapBag · 20/03/2014 14:43

On a role with threads at the moment.

As the title really. Did you love it or grow into it? Did you immediately know? I have known the ones I didn't like straight away. Others are nice but not 100% sure. Do you make sure you are 100%?

Just realised this is pretty similar to my other thread. Sorry.

OP posts:
bluepolkadot · 21/03/2014 07:14

No - think its hard as we like many families had so many practical things to consider, ie, schools, location, transport, budget, garage, parking etc etc

My dream of a period property, full of character and features went straight out of the window.

But you can grow to love your home once you get in there and make it your own.

SanityClause · 21/03/2014 07:18

Yes, I loved the house as soon as I saw it. It was way over budget, even after the loooowwwww offer we made.

But we stretched ourselves, and I have loved living here, on the whole.

littlecrystal · 21/03/2014 08:20

No, but it ticked all boxes. Had been dreaming of the purchase to fall through all the way, but it did not. Hated it for several years, due to period features I dont love and masses of work and having no money for it. But.. 5 years on I have matured and I rediscovered my house and it has been absolutely the right house for me since. So this is a relationship, not only a white or black emotion.

VivaLeBeaver · 21/03/2014 08:22

Yes. Our old house wasn't up for sale and we hadn't talked about moving. I saw our now home for sale and rang the estate agent and booked an appt to view it the next day. Told dh when he came home.

Fell in love with it. Put ours on the market and sold it within a day. Bought this one and moved in 8 weeks later.

FiscalCliffRocksThisTown · 21/03/2014 08:25

Yes, walked in, knew it, made a bid. Third house we saw.

Weegiemum · 21/03/2014 08:32

Where we currently live - bit meh. It's a newbuild, standard house, but it ticks all the boxes for what we need, especially wrt my disability.

Our other house (yes yes!) in a remote part of Scotland, rented out to tourists mostly but we go as often as we can - hit us both in the gut when we viewed it in 1998 - it needed so much work (which we've done), but was and is perfect. We cover the remaining mortgage with rental income and just can't quite bring ourselves to sell it ....

wonkylegs · 21/03/2014 08:33

Nope we'd seen something absolutely gorgeous that I loved but didn't stack up for various reasons, I wasn't sure of this one but the garden was absolutely awesome, the house had the right amour of space & it was priced so that we could spend to make it just what we wanted.
We are just over half way through our renovation of it and the moment the new kitchen was completed I knew we'd definitely made the right decision (I really hated the one it came with), I seriously can't wait til it's all finished so we can enjoy it fully (& I no longer have to clean up brick & plaster dust)

wonkylegs · 21/03/2014 08:33
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MorrisZapp · 21/03/2014 08:36

No. We didn't have the luxury of loving a house in an insanely overheated market. We just bid for whatever was in our price range, and our basic spec. As it turned out we still live here 10 years later and I love it so much.

A bit like an arranged marriage :)

Mandy2003 · 21/03/2014 08:38

Oh yes! I wanted a big lounge and this one has - 26 x 14 feet!

Madmog · 21/03/2014 08:46

Wouldn't say I loved it, but we did a lot of viewings (due to the fact our previous purchase fell through) and knew it ticked our boxes, nice location, room sizes and even had a conservatory which we'd said we'd add to many others we saw.

We've been here 15 years (and are about to move although I know I'll find it hard leaving), but I haven't regretted being here one bit.

soundedbetterinmyhead · 21/03/2014 08:47

Yes, we had a tight budget and it was the only one we saw with a separate room to put the piano in. My parents were mortified that we had bought the house because of this, but 12 years on we are still here and really like it.

MoreBeta · 21/03/2014 08:54

I told DW the other day I don't 'love' our house. She was quite shocked and I think a bit upset. It not my dream home but then I don't really think any house is that important to me. We rented for 30 years and moved around a lot when it suited us.

We bought it last year and I spent the summer managing a building team that we eventually sacked as they did a bad job. It is 200m away from our old rented house so we walked past it hundreds of times over several years and knew it well before we bought it.

Its a Georgian listed house with a small garden and I suppose in the nicest area of town and just right for us in size (although needed lots of work) and most people would think it is nice but in truth I just don't care that much abut it.

Its just a place to live in a convenient location.

dietstartsmonday · 21/03/2014 09:19

yes we did. had looked at about 10 and lost a house we also both loved ( although in reality would not have worked for us)

It was over budget but the estate felt we could get it at out top price. The pictures did it no justice and DP didn't really want to view. We only did cos I pushed a bit.

We left the viewing silently I think both scared to say how much we loved it. remember sitting at the dining table with my dad just trying to work out what we could offer.

Two offers refused. But best and final accepted. We complete next Friday, and I cannot wait to get in there!! So glad we lost the first one we loved now

OnePlanOnHouzz · 21/03/2014 10:00

ours was pretty much derelict ! hubby thought I was joking when I said I wanted to view it ! there wasn't much to love about the actual building ( is an incredibly old Dorset long house/ cottage ) -but the location was 9/10 and managed to buy it for a steal ! now it's fab ! as we changed it to totally suit us ! and even uncovered some of the old cottage charm that had been lost !! he'd happily stay here forever - I want a new challenge - so the debate continues !!!

echt · 21/03/2014 10:07

In the UK I saw first and fell in love with our house-to-be; DH saw it next. Ditto. I still think of it occasionally, but without regret.

Our Aussie house: I really liked it right away, as did DD when she visited. DH didn't like it much, but we had to buy asap.

DH still didn't like it for quite a while, but loves it now. It's a quirky, 80s Aussie shed.

Tiredemma · 21/03/2014 10:11

Yes- I had discounted it on Rightmove because of the decor inside and we had made plan to look at a house down the road. A friend who lives around the corner drove past the house and phoned us asking if this was the one we were viewing- we said no- another one and he suggested we seriously consider it because of its size.

So we viewed the one we originally intended to - and then walked up the road (with the same EA) to this house. As soon as we walked in I just had this feeling - I knew it was 'the one'.
We arranged a second viewing for later that week- on that viewing I actually got tearful in the garden.

I LOVE my house- its my forever home.

jugofwildflowers · 21/03/2014 10:33

My sister lived in HK and asked me to help find a house for her back in the UK as her dh had been looking and she didn't like any of his choices. She knew I'd want the same sort of house as her: rural, beautiful location, detached, not far from London.

I lived in Oxford at the time, so I agreed to help her. I picked up a few local papers to and from my workplace which was in the area where she wanted to live.

Sifting through one local paper I saw the most incredible property for sale. It was in an Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty (AONB) an organic smallholding with stables, paddocks and the most amazing vegetable garden and chickens, ducks were included.

I knew it was the place of MY dreams, so I naughtily did not tell my sister that I wanted to view it. The estate agent said due to the unprecedented interest in the property he was only going to show it to people who had already sold their own property and were ready to proceed.

I lied to the estate agent and told him I had already sold my own house!

Whe I went to view it the vendor gave me one of the most delicious fattest juiciest strawberry from his strawberry patch and I just said to him 'I just have to have this place. What will I have to do to make sure I get it?'

He said he would choose me as I assured him I would look after the chickens and ducks that was most important to him.

I then had to tell my dh what I had done, quickly find a buyer for our house (this was in the '90s) which we did, unbelievably that weekend, and a few weeks later we moved in. I just think it was Meant To Be.

17 years later we are still here and blissfully happy Smile

CMOTDibbler · 21/03/2014 10:41

No, but tbh I don't think I've loved any of the houses I've owned, nor in many ways do I expect to.

Don't get me wrong, the house is lovely, in a good place, and we are very happy here, but its not wow.

LondonGirl83 · 21/03/2014 10:59

We weird looking for a placed to to do up and the place we bought was smaller than we originally wanted but SSS a great price and had good bones so we both knew we wanted to buy it straight away.

NiSaBula · 21/03/2014 11:02

Yes, I wanted it the first time I saw the estate agent's leaflet. We lived 200 miles away so couldn't view it immediately. Our offer was one of three and we spent an anxious weekend, waiting to see if our offer was accepted. We went to see other houses in the mean time, but I didn't get 'the feeling' with them. The decor was okay, immaculate but not really my taste, but I knew I could live with it.

I did say a while ago that I don't think I would want to move, if I suddenly came into a load of money (hypothetical, I don't do the lottery). I would, however, like to extend upwards, and create a master bedroom, possibly buy a couple of holiday homes, etc.

RiverTam · 21/03/2014 11:04

yes. But it's sucking us dry, so not feeling the love 10 years down the line.

WhoKnowsWhereTheTimeGoes · 21/03/2014 11:12

Yes, knew immediately, it's the location for ours far more than the house itself, but the house is nice too. I used to drive past these houses and think how lovely they looked, never dreamt we would end up moving to this town or end up in one of the little houses that I always admired.

However we compromised on a few features, would have loved a second toilet (nowhere to put one) and for the reception rooms to be bigger, also a garage would have been great.

But the view out of the windows makes up for any of that, as does the fact that it's 5 mins walk from a brilliant school, 10 mins walk from the town centre and the leisure centre, also the scout and guide huts. Plus the neighbours are lovely. We really could do with more space (and could afford bigger now) but love our spot too much to move off it. Maybe once the DCs are at secondary school and not the local primary we will think about it.

TerraNotSoFirma · 21/03/2014 11:15

Yes, I immediately loved it......but we were facing being placed in a homeless hostel and having to get rid of our dog, so when we were given this council tenancy it was an absolute dream come true.
Funnily enough my friend lived in this street years ago and when I used to visit I'd think ''what a lovely street, I'd love to live here'' maybe it was cosmic ordering that just took 12 years.

mateysmum · 21/03/2014 11:21

Yes. We'd been looking for 2 years, getting very frustrated living in a small house, walked into this one and knew I wanted it in ooh about 30sec. It's so big and light and in a lovely location and it was the first house both DH & I wanted to buy without debating the pros and cons for hours. There a few tiny cons, but when those don't matter you know it's the right house.